


Just the Way You Are

by Galpalkru



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Pitch Perfect 2, Slight Canon Divergence, between pp1 and pp2, confused baby bi beca, endgame bechloe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-02
Updated: 2015-06-02
Packaged: 2018-04-02 14:08:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4062847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galpalkru/pseuds/Galpalkru
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beca Mitchell definitely doesn't have feelings for Chloe Beale. Not even a little bit. Best friends sing love songs to each other and cuddle all the time. Right?</p><p>Or the one where Beca says what she should have said to Chloe on the retreat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just the Way You Are

**Author's Note:**

> So after watching Pitch Perfect 2 twice, I am a walking Bechloe-related mess. This is what obviously should have happened because baby bi Beca has a giant toner for Chloe and everyone can see it through those jeans. Prompted after I spent a couple hours on a Bechloe trash trailer yesterday and had way too many feels left over.
> 
> (As a note, there are massive PP2 spoilers here, but it mostly takes place in my headcanon between the movies.)

“What could be more important than this?”

 

Beca slowly turned around to find a distinctly non-Chloe expression of rage splashed across the redhead’s face. Chloe Beale, walking ray of sunshine, stood in front of Beca, hands knotted into the waistline of her shorts, blue eyes blazing. Beca’s breath caught in her throat and she stuttered out a few unintelligible phrases as Chloe’s brow furrowed further.

 

“C’mon Beca, just tell her.” Amy stepped behind Beca, who silently cursed her friend’s ‘Open Book’ policy as she fought to control the turning in her stomach. It would be easy to just blurt something out about her internship and the real world, maybe even turning it around on Chloe, who seemed ready to fall into her fourth victory lap. It would be simple to snap a few snarky phrases and storm off, putting four years of her life and the best friends she’d ever had behind her. There were only a few months left in the year, and Beca had spent much of her life before college in a relatively solitary fashion. Would it really be that bad to do it again?

 

“I heard that. Tell me what?” As Chloe stepped forwards, Beca was enveloped by a familiar cloud of perfume. Hell, it could even just be Chloe’s natural scent for all she knew. As the other Bellas looked on, Beca closed her eyes and took a deep breath. 

* * *

 

 It had all started a few weeks ago. OK, that was a lie. In reality, it had all started when a girl with bright eyes and an even brighter smile had called the snarky alternative girl over, handed her a crude, homemade flyer and invited her to help make their “dreams come true.” Over the next year, she’d been accosted by the same girl naked in the shower (though that did have its own perks), forced into a Miley Cyrus sing-a-long, and gone on a cross-country trip to New York to which the old Beca would have had to be dragged, gagged and bound.

 

Even more than that, Chloe Beale had listened. Not just during midnight piano-bound arguments over arrangements or when Beca forced headphones over her ears to make her agree that yes, ‘Brave’ and ‘Roar’ did have _exactly_ the same beat. Chloe had this strange ability to sense when Beca’s snark had a certain taste of true discomfort behind it. When they’d first moved into the Bella house, Chloe had burst into Beca’s room, bottle of wine in hand, dragged the DJ away from her laptop, and sat on her bed listening until 3 AM, because she’d somehow just known that Beca needed it. She’d never told anyone when the anniversary of her parents’ divorce was, but Chloe was there.

 

A few months later, at a Treblemakers party that Jesse missed due to his internship running late, Chloe and Beca had swept the crowd into an intense dance-off that ended with the two Bellas pressed against each other to the tune of ‘Drunk in Love.’ And damn if Chloe didn’t know how to use her hips. At one point, Chloe’s chest to Beca’s back, thumbs resting on the skin between her jeans and the bottom of her shirt, Beca found her breath coming short and fast, despite the Bellas’ intense cardio routine of late.

 

Once the party had mostly cleared out, Chloe grabbed them both drinks and sat with Beca on the edge of the pool, feet resting in the water. “As if we needed any more proof that the Bellas were the best group on this campus.”

 

Beca, finally back in control of her breathing, let out a slight laugh. “I think my favorite part was Stacie literally pushing Benji into the pool just with the power of her boobs.”

 

“Hey, if you’ve got it, flaunt it.” Chloe took a deep sip of her drink, her right hand mere inches away from Beca’s left. She stared across the pool, her bottom lip caught between her teeth, a slight flush on her cheeks that Beca simply attributed to the excessive amounts of Jiggle Juice that they’d both had that night.

 

“I’m thinking we go with an all-Beyonce setlist for regionals.” Chloe nodded in response, eyes still distant. “Hey, I could even bring in some Destiny’s Child, some old Bella-era power?”

 

“I’m not ready to graduate.”

 

Beca turned her body towards her friend. “Beyonce convinced you of that?”

 

The redhead placed her cup down and shifted to face Beca. “I just…haven’t done everything I wanted to do.” She licked her lips, glancing down at the ground with an expression that Beca had never seen on her face before, a deep furrow between her eyebrows.

 

“Meaning?”

 

Chloe’s eyes were dark as she looked back up. “I don’t even know.” A sharp breath. “I mean, the Bellas have been my life for the past five years, and I know most of my old friends are gone, but…” She met Beca’s eyes, maddeningly biting her lip again. Beca swore she could feel herself leaning forwards, and was just too drunk or lazy or something to stop it. “I—“

 

“Becaw!” Beca snapped back, knocking her own drink over into the pool as Jesse rounded the corner. “Benji told me you were still around. Thought I’d surprise you.”

He pulled her into a hug as she stood up, the familiar, comforting smell of his aftershave enveloping her.

 

Chloe had stood up herself as Beca turned back around, Jesse’s arm around her shoulders. She stared at them for a moment, that furrow briefly returning, before her text tone went off. Chloe read the message, cocked a grin, and looked back up as she placed it into her pocket. “Well, I’ll leave you two. Looks like Bella captains are in high demand tonight.” With a wink, she flounced off through the Treble house.

* * *

 And they’d never directly talked about that night again. Chloe had gone through yet another victory lap, but maybe that night was just lost in the dozens of others they’d had like it. It was always easy to say that this was just what typical female friendships were like. Beca hadn’t really had a lot of girlfriends before, friend girls that is, and Chloe had literally zero physical boundaries with anyone. Beca did, though, but it would’ve honestly been rude to stop Chloe from cuddling with her, or to pull her hand away when their fingers would meet during movie nights.

 

They’d talk about boy problems, not that Beca had much to contribute, because Jesse was about as close to ideal as a boy could be for Beca. He respected her boundaries, physical and emotional, but could always be counted on during those few occasions when Beca directly opened up and asked for his help. He couldn’t read her like Chloe, but she spent more time with Chloe, living in the same house and all. Chloe’s boy problems were due to the fact that she had what amounted to a male harem following her at all times. It wasn’t too surprising, with her eyes, hair, and, aesthetically speaking, absolutely perfect body. And that was all before you got to her personality; the way that she could make you feel that you were the only person alive in a crowded room, the way that her laugh made your heart jump regardless of the mood that you’d been in, the way that she made you feel safe and special and…yeah.

 

It was around the time that Beca had told Chloe that her last five boyfriends were, in order, “greasy,” “sketchy,” “pretentious,” “clingy,” and “flat-out not good enough for her” that Beca realized something else might be up. It was the end of junior year, and Chloe was catching Flo up to speed with the latest routine change for Nationals, despite the fact that Beca had assured her that the previous three choreography changes were unnecessary. Beca was fiddling around with some mix for her summer job taking over the radio station.

 

“Becs!” Looking up, she saw Chloe waving her over. “I need you.”

 

Beca let out a not at all over-exaggerated sigh, unplugged her headphones, and jogged over. A slight sheen of sweat was the only indication that Chloe had been furiously dancing and re-working choreography for the last five hours, and she pulled Beca next to her by the arm as she came close. “OK, so during Girl on Fire, I was thinking of going with partners again. I’m just not sure—and you obviously know the mix better than I do—whether we should go left and up?” She pulled Beca in, stretching out her arm with one hand on her hip. “Or right and out?” Her left arm folded Beca’s own across her chest as she gently drew the other out to their right.

 

Chloe’s breath hot on her neck, thumb against the sensitive skin of her wrist, Beca’s focus was wholly on breathing steadily and doing her best to hide the flush rising in her cheeks.

 

“Beca?” Chloe stepped back, and Beca shook her head vigorously to clear it before turning around.

 

“Sorry.” Flo stared at them with a shit-eating grin on her face as Beca pushed back her hair. “Ummm, I think left and up?”

 

Chloe beamed, nodding. “Exactly. Thanks.” And then the wink came, and Beca nearly sprinted back to her laptop, where she got exactly nothing accomplished for the rest of the rehearsal.

* * *

 

 She and Jesse broke up in the middle of that summer. It might have had something to do with the fact that she’d stayed at Barden rather than accept one of the three internship offers she’d had in New York. He’d even found an apartment convenient enough for both of them as he worked for a production company, but Beca had assured him that a) it’d be cheaper to just stay in the Bella house, and b) she was already working on an internship for the fall, and maybe if they wanted her to start early or come in for more interviews, it’d be easiest that way.

 

It probably didn’t help that she screened his calls extensively, claiming excessive time in the booth, even when the calls came as she and Chloe sat through yet another Kardashians marathon. Beca hated reality TV, but she loved Chloe’s reactions to even her dumbest criticisms of the show, laughing hard enough one time when Beca compared Scott Disick’s particularly bad spray tan to a Cheeto that she almost choked on her drink. As she sat there spluttering, Beca quickly ran through all the steps of CPR, but Chloe managed to catch her breath as the show went to commercial, even laughing it off as Beca looked on with concern.

 

Neither of them worked particularly long hours, and Chloe’s position as music director for a day camp actually benefited them, as her free time would be spent at the piano on speakerphone calls with Beca as they worked out arrangements for the Kennedy Center performance. At night, they’d sit on the couch with a bottle of wine, talking about Chloe’s ‘munchkins,’ as she called them, or arguing over the audition song for acapella tryouts this year.

 

When Beca finally turned 21, Stacie, Cynthia Rose, and Lilly flew into town. After a group Skype session with Amy, Beca was forced into a ridiculously tight pair of jeans and low-cut top, along with a pair of Chloe’s heels that, as Stacie put it, “might put her somewhere near the height of a normal—“ she paused for a moment “—guy.” The three visiting Bellas shared a knowing giggle that swiftly turned into a cough as Chloe’s genuinely confused glance swept over them.

 

Despite Beca’s protests that “she just wanted to go to a bar and have a few drinks and catch up,” she was dragged into a club with bass loud enough to shake her core from outside. Thanks to Stacie’s superior negotiating tactics, the five avoided the line and made their way into the strobe-lit, packed club, which had clearly been a warehouse at some point in time. Beca found a table with Chloe as the other three fetched drinks for the group. Chloe looked around, her signature expression of contentment on her face, eventually resting on Beca. She reached out and touched her friend’s shoulder lightly.

 

“Hey, we can leave if you really want to. The others were just thinking it’d be fun to get out and dance a bit, and you know after…” She trailed off, biting her lip and looking down.

 

“After Jesse?” Beca squeezed Chloe’s knee. “Don’t worry. I’m fine. This’ll be…fun?” She accepted some absurdly brightly colored drink from Stacie as Cynthia Rose placed a tray of shots on the table in front of them.

 

And this was how, thirty minutes later, Beca found herself with an absurdly attractive (aesthetically of course) redhead attached to her ass. The club was packed, certainly, and Beca was unwillingly being forced into a grind train as the guy currently behind Stacie backed up further and further. Letting out a huff, Beca spun around.

 

“I think we’re being unintentionally swept into a dance orgy!”

 

“What?” Chloe screamed over the music, leaning down towards Beca’s face in order to hear, and making the brunette greatly regret her decision to turn around.

 

“Um.” Chloe’s lips swept over her nose as Beca opened her mouth. “I. Uh. I said we’re being swept into a dance orgy!”

 

Chloe laughed. “Well that sounds like fun,” she replied, a mischievous smile curling her lips. “We can move out of the crowd if you want, though.” Beca nodded, allowing Chloe to grab her by the wrist and lead her back to their table.

 

Chloe let out a sigh as she plopped down on the couch, leaning against Beca. “Are you having fun?” The goofy ‘Drunk Chloe’ face was in full effect, half-closed eyes covered by full eyelashes. “I’m having fun. I’m having fun with you.”

 

It was Beca’s turn to choke on her drink for a moment, gasping for air as she placed it on the table. Once she’d regained her breath, she caught sight of the two remaining shots from the tray. Wordlessly, she handed one to Chloe and raised hers between them.

 

“To the Bellas. Soon to be four-time national champions.” Chloe grinned, clinking their glasses together before tossing back her shot, scrunching up her face in an honestly adorable grimace as the taste hit her.

 

“Look at you, making toasts to the Bellas.” She lightly shoved Beca with her shoulder before picking up her own drink from the table. “Remember that time I had to sing at you naked to get you to even show up for auditions? Times have changed.”

 

Beca took a sip. “Hey, I’d call that an effective marketing technique, coming from you.” And another sip as she thanked the club’s strobes for not reaching far enough to illuminate her exceedingly embarrassed countenance.

 

“You know what I say. If you’ve got it, flaunt it.” The memory of that night at the Treble house hung between them before Chloe broke the silence with a shriek as Beca shoved her back with her own shoulder, causing her to spill her drink on her skirt and the top of her legs below it.

 

And so maybe it wasn’t the best image for Beca to be nearly on top of Chloe as she cleaned her legs off with napkins when the three other Bellas returned. “Are we interrupting something?” Cynthia Rose asked with a chuckle.

 

“Just attempting to save my skirt,” Chloe said as Beca dropped the wad of napkins on the table. “We finished the last shots if that’s okay.”

 

“We were thinking of going anyways,” Stacie said. “Lilly’s dance partner decided PG-13 wasn’t enough for him. She may or may not have punched him in the face.” Beca grimaced, taking Cynthia Rose’s hand to pull her up as she wobbled on her heels.

 

That night, Beca lay in the bed opposite from Chloe’s, both of them in one room as had become their custom when they were especially intoxicated. Her head spun as she listened to Chloe’s even breathing, and she immediately made a note to see if she could fit ‘Blame it on the Alcohol’ into a mix anywhere.

* * *

And then the Kennedy Center happened, and for once Beca was the one comforting Chloe as she sobbed hysterically until she fell asleep against Beca’s shoulder in the middle of _Once Upon a Time_ Season 3. Beca woke up the next morning with her head nestled on top of Chloe’s, who had a smile on her face even in sleep.

 

So maybe it was a good thing when the internship provided her with a bit of distance. Chloe was starting to make it hard for Beca to focus, and, as Chloe had reminded them all over and over, they would need to have perfect focus if they were to be the first American team to win Worlds. And yeah, they still all danced like idiots at the Treble house (as Beca and Jesse’s breakup had been altogether amicable), and Beca convinced herself that she and Chloe danced no differently than anyone like, say, Cynthia Rose and Stacie did.

 

They followed DSM to the auto show, and Beca found her word vomit on full display when faced by the Valkyrie-like blonde German leader. She could have sworn that a rare frown made its way onto Chloe’s face as she stared between Beca and Kommissar, almost placing her body between the two as Beca attempted to lunge after the Germans as they swept away.

 

Chloe seemed to dig in even more, becoming almost fanatical and stretching rehearsals late into the night. Beca had to stop her from nearly biting off Emily’s head after the riff-off party, and she only snapped Chloe out of her anger-fueled daze by showing her the dance routine she’d made up to ‘Shut Up and Dance.’ Chloe had responded in turn by tickling Beca until she admitted that “1989 was an audial masterpiece, and Taylor Swift was the greatest musical mind of our generation.” It didn’t help that Chloe’s knee landed squarely at the apex of Beca’s thighs as she pinned her down. Beca covered what was certainly not a moan coming out of her mouth with a slight cough, and they immediately began a lengthy discussion regarding their set list for the upcoming performance.

 

It was later that night, as Beca sat at her laptop making absolutely no progress on the demo for her internship, that Amy stumbled in, shoes in hand, rambling on about anything other than the fact that Beca clearly knew she’d been off at Bumper’s for the last day.

 

“Why are you up so late anyways?” Amy walked into the closet to change.

 

“I’m just…figuring some stuff out.”

 

“Working on the set?”

 

“Uh, I’m not working on the set.” Beca closed her laptop and leaned back against her headboard as Amy walked out of the closet.

 

“Well, if you did want to share something with me, as your roommate, you should know I’m a great keeper of secrets. Like a safe, that locks,” she said, sitting on her bed with a click of her tongue. “Because…”

 

“It’s fine,” Beca said, looking down as she ran her fingers through her hair. “Forget about it. It’s all good.”

 

“So this has nothing to do with Chloe?”

 

Beca’s eyes shot up to meet Amy’s, who now stood at the edge of her bed. “What?” she stammered out. “Um, I don’t know what—“

 

“C’mon Beca! Did you think nobody noticed?”

 

“I. Uh.” She tucked her knees up under her arms and looked for anything in the room to avoid making eye contact with Amy.

 

“You’re Beca and Chloe! Together you’re Bloe, and everyone loves a good Bloe.” Amy sat down to Beca’s side and pushed her on the arm. “You can’t tell me you never knew she had a thing for you.”

 

The rest of the Bellas did know about the shower incident from freshman year, as Chloe hadn’t been particularly embarrassed by it. In fact, she’d suggested that it become their new audition method, an idea for which Stacie had been particularly supportive.

 

“I mean—“

 

“Have you ever paid attention to how you two dance at parties? It’s not exactly subtle.”

 

“We’re just…like, working on choreography?” Beca managed weakly. Amy cocked an eyebrow.

 

“Right. And that’s why you two look at each other like I look at Bump—cheesecake?” Amy nudged her with her knee. “Face it, Beca. You’re in love with Chloe.” Beca fell back against the wall with a smack that was punctuated by Amy’s laughter. “We at least all know you’re not straight.”

 

Beca glared at Amy. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

 

“Two words. Blonde. German. I think if Chloe hadn’t stepped between you at the auto show, we’d have visual confirmation.” The brunette dropped her head between her knees with a grumbling sigh. “But really. Chloe’s looked at you in a different way for just about forever, and you weren’t too far behind.” Feeling Amy’s eyes on her, Beca looked back up. “Why don’t you tell her?”

 

“Sorry, just now I’m freaking out because…this is just easier. There’s like so much going on and Chloe…Chloe doesn’t need any distraction from Worlds.”

 

“I think both of you are significantly less useful to us when you spend half your time pining over each other and the other half attempting to hide when you’re checking the other out,” Amy said.

Amy wasn’t wrong. Beca’s focus had been off lately, and even Chloe had forgotten to choreograph a good minute of their routine, which she’d explained away as Russian Lit being particularly challenging this semester. And Beca herself had even started to question…things with the way that Kommissar got into her head.

 

But with Chloe, it was different. It was a feeling of comfort and warmth. It was having someone who she could say anything to, who wouldn’t judge her for even her bitchiest remark and who had never let her push her away. It was also red hair framing the most gorgeous face Beca had ever seen, ridiculously toned arms from hours at the gym (something even Chloe couldn’t get Beca to join her in), and hips that moved musically even as she did something as mundane as walking. All that with a spectacular voice and a musical ear that Beca in particular could appreciate, and Beca Mitchell knew that she was head over fucking heels for Chloe Beale.

 

She covered her face with her hands for a moment before squinting out between two fingers at the smirking Australian across from her. “This is a big deal, right?”

 

 Amy nodded. “If it makes you feel better, you just helped me win a bet with Stacie on when you two crazy kids were going to get together.”

 

“Does _everyone_ know?”

 

“Little legacy even asked me if you two were dating.”

 

Beca groaned.  “I wouldn’t count that bet as won yet. I don’t even know what to do with this.”

 

“Beca, do you know how awesome you are?” Beca looked up with a small smile. “Do you need some of my confidence? Because I could maybe tone mine down a notch.”

 

“Yeah, okay,” Beca said with a slight nod, almost immediately regretting her decision as Amy proceeded to provide her with heavy amounts of armpit and butt confidence. 

* * *

 

So she’d been on pins and needles throughout all of the retreat, falling back into comfortable whining and griping to cover the fact that she jumped if Chloe as much as brushed by her. She’d been particularly proud of how she’d managed herself when Chloe commented that she regretted “not experimenting more in college.” Even Lilly’s nose-licking was preferable when Beca’s instincts were telling her to grab Chloe by the neck and seal the deal right there in the tent.

 

But of course the distant behavior had come back to bite her in the ass. After you spend four years being aloof and grumpy to nearly everyone except one person, that person is likely to notice if you start treating them the same as everyone else. So here Beca was, engaged in a shouting match with her best friend, who confirmed the fact that someone who never gets angry is significantly more terrifying than anyone else in the rare circumstance that they do.

 

Of course Amy had opened her mouth, and Chloe had heard, and Beca was screwed. Engulfed by the heady scent that was just Chloe, Beca had no words. Beca Mitchell of the constant comeback, the DJ who had created the modern Bella sound, had nothing to say. And so Beca took three steps forward, placed her hands on either side of Chloe’s jaw, and decided not to use her words.

 

The moment where Chloe was frozen against her lips was more terrifying than even that first Nationals performance. Beca could feel her jaw tighten under her hands, and after a painful moment, she pulled back, forcing her eyes up to meet the blue ones across from her.

 

Chloe’s eyes went from the widest she’d ever seen them to narrowed confusion with that distinct furrow to something Beca had seen time and time again as they sat or stood painfully close to each other, nothing but an inch of air between them. It was the same look as that first night, when only a ‘Becaw’ had broken them apart. Because Chloe would have done what she did now a long time ago, wrapping both of her hands around the back of the shorter girl’s neck and pulling her in.

 

It wasn’t a gentle kiss at all, and Beca was able to add “annoyingly talented kisser” to the long list of Chloe’s talents. As she nipped at Chloe’s bottom lip lightly, the redhead let out a slight moan that Beca decided she desperately wanted to hear again, moving her hand down to Chloe’s waist. Chloe pulled Beca flush against her by her back as Amy let out an especially guttural cough.

 

Beca stepped back, head reeling, and turned to face the other Bellas, whose expressions ranged from triumph to amusement to something most easily described as “holy shit that’s hot” from Cynthia Rose. There was no shock amongst them.

 

It was Aubrey who spoke up. “Finally.”

* * *

 

No one really said much for the rest of the afternoon, but the tension was notably lessened between them all. Beca caught Chloe staring over at her with a truly stupid grin on her face, eventually enough times that Aubrey required a five Bella separation between them at all times “if we are to get anything done.”

 

They sat next to each other at the bonfire that night, Beca receiving a particularly pointed wink from Chloe after she stated her job choices as music teacher or exotic dancer. The Bellas all eventually filed out, Aubrey last of all, leaving with a mothering smile to her former co-captain. Then it was just the two of them.

 

Their hands had been intertwined for most of the night, not that it was particularly out of character for them even before the recent revelation. Beca was pressed against Chloe’s right arm, Chloe’s head resting on top of hers as they stared at the fire in silence.

 

After five minutes, Chloe sat up. “Hey.”

 

Beca turned to face her, slightly nervous smile across her face. “Hi.”

 

“So that happened.”

 

Beca laughed. “Yeah, you enormous dork, that happened.”

 

“I just…I never knew. I hoped. I didn’t know. And with Jesse…”

 

“Hey, I wasn’t the only one who had a boyfriend. Or boyfriends, I’d say…” Chloe let out a rueful sigh. “But look. I loved Jesse, in a way. But who did I come to at the end of every bad day?” She punched Chloe’s arm lightly like she had so many times before. “It’s you, dude.”

 

The smile that lit up Chloe’s face as she reached for Beca put all previous ones to shame. This time, the kiss was gentle, and they broke apart as their foreheads rested against each other. “I’ve wanted to do that for a really long time, you know?”

 

Beca pulled back as she locked their hands together. “I love you, awesome nerd.”

**Author's Note:**

> Feels. I have them. I am a giant trash heap. I considered making this smutty but eventually decided against it because this is a pile of fluff.  
> If you want to cry about Bechloe with me, I’m over on tumblr as bicamitchell. Peace out, my aca-people.


End file.
